Baseball and softball bats with fused nano-structured metals and alloys

a technology of nanostructured metals and alloys, applied in the field of bats, can solve the problems of affecting the performance of baseball bats, metal baseball bats can suffer from a number of deficiencies, and can transmit unpleasant vibrations into the hands and arms of players, so as to prevent the possibility of galvanic corrosion of aluminum alloy cores and increase the stiffness of the structur

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-11-23
POWERMETAL TECH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The nanostructured metal coatings significantly improve the bats' performance, durability, sweet spot size, and sound characteristics, maintaining performance throughout the bat's life while reducing weight and manufacturing costs.

Problems solved by technology

As can be appreciated, finding a suitable combination of materials and designs to meet a set of performance criteria is a challenging task.
At the same time, however, metal baseball bats can suffer from a number of deficiencies.
In particular, a metal baseball bat can transmit unpleasant vibrations into the hands and arms of a player.
Also, unlike a wood baseball bat, a metal baseball bat can emit a high-pitched metallic sound upon impact that may not be desirable.
The bats often dent during the play.
While providing some benefits, these attempts are still lacking in terms of hitting distance and durability as well as in terms of feel and sound upon impact.
Moreover, some of these attempts can involve manufacturing techniques that are inefficient in terms of cost and time.
Such bats only provide minimal relief from sting due to such elastomeric material being highly rate, or time, dependant; that is, the extremely rapid vibrational bat movements, are minimally attenuated.

Method used

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  • Baseball and softball bats with fused nano-structured metals and alloys
  • Baseball and softball bats with fused nano-structured metals and alloys
  • Baseball and softball bats with fused nano-structured metals and alloys

Examples

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example 1

Sports Bats Formed Using Nanostructured Materials

[0124]Table 2 below provides examples of sports bats and nanostructured materials that can be used to form these sports bats.

[0125]

TABLE 2Sports BatsNanostructured MaterialsAdult baseball batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereofYouth baseball batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereofSenior / Junior league baseball batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereofSlow pitch softball batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereofFast pitch softball batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereofTraining or Fungo batsn-Ni, n-Ni Fe, n-Co P and compositesthereof

[0126]The nanostructured material coated sports bats passed standard peel tests and were exposed to a variety of mechanical and playability tests. The results indicated that the thickness and weight of the aluminum substrate could be substantially reduced if the nanostructured coating was applied. Hybrid nanostructured material / aluminum baseball bats made with thinner and ...

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Abstract

A sports bat, such as a baseball or softball bat, is electro-deposited with a nanostructured metal. Bats made from aluminum alloys or other metals may be electro-deposited with varying thicknesses of nanostructured metals such as nickel, nickel iron, cobalt phosphorous, or similar materials. The bat substrate alloy can be any metal or alloy. The coating may be done using an electro-deposition process.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 895,906, filed 20 Mar. 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]The invention generally relates to bats such as baseball and softball bats having nanostructured metals and alloys fused to their outer surface, or inner surface, or both. More particularly, this invention relates to the design, manufacturing, and construction of adult baseball bats, senior league baseball bats, junior league baseball bats, youth baseball bats, slow pitch softball bats, and fast pitch softball bats having nanostructured metals and alloys fused to their outer surface, or inner surface, or both. The invention also relates to the nanostructured metals and alloys fused on bats with activation layer creating a single-wall barrel structure or without activation creating a multi-wall barrel structure.BRIEF DESCRIPTION[0003]Due to the competi...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & AuthorityPatents(United States)
IPC IPC(8): A63B59/06
CPCA63B59/06Y10T29/49982A63B2209/00A63B2102/18A63B2102/182A63B59/51A63B59/50
InventorBHATT, DHANANJAYDAVIDSON, III, WILLIAM F.BRUTLAG, ANDYHUGHES, EDWARD
OwnerPOWERMETAL TECH